Fundamental Overview

Fundamental trades are a type of Runescape merchanting trade that takes advantage of in-game market imperfections. Theoretically speaking, all items that are used in game the game to raise skill levels should carry the same cost per experience point gained (depicted as GP / 1 XP). In other words, assuming that cleaning a grimy ranarr and a grimy torstol both yielded 100 experience points, both should cost the same and produce the same amount of profit (or loss) for performing the task. This number is determined by the difference in price between the grimy and clean variation of the herb.

The problem is, they don't; some items yield more experience points, some yield more profit when all else is equal. In merchanting terms, this makes it possible to figure out which items skillers will want to use to make the most money or to make the most of their money.

In this section, we will explore the reasons for why different items are worth more and how you can capitalize on this phenomenon (demand) in order to make the most profit. Unlike momentum trades the goal here is not to make outrageous overnight profit. Instead the aim is to make consistent, predictable Runescape GP with the least amount of work possible.